Beauty spots mean better health, younger looks

London: An abundance of moles can be a matter of embarrassment to many, but scientists say people who have more than 100 beauty spots have tougher bones and fewer wrinkles.

The tougher bones reduce risk of osteoporosis (brittle bones), while fewer wrinkles can help them look up to seven years younger, reports the Daily Mail.

A research team from King`s College, London, believes its findings could pave the way for a cream which `switches off` wrinkles, doing away with the need for collagen injections or plastic surgery.

"Until recently, everyone ignored moles," said genetics expert Prof. Tim Spector. "Most people start losing them at 40 but we now know people who don`t age and are baby-faced at 60 are likely to have lots of them."

His team looked at 1,200 non-identical female twins aged between 18 and 79 and found that those with more than 100 moles were half as likely to develop osteoporosis compared to those with fewer than 25.

People with lots of moles are known to produce white blood cells with unusually long telomeres, a part of DNA which allows it to replicate, preventing deterioration.

The longer it is, the more time before it starts to degrade - much like the plastic tip on a shoelace. These findings were presented at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.